Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and this is Stories on Screen. Time to cover the films and shows which inspire my writing.
Best Way to Share, Only Way to Watch
One of the greatest joys you can find in a good story is sharing it with others.
Why else would book clubs form? Why else would many story-driven videogames include cooperative play?
As many have said, we human beings are social creatures. We want to experience things with other people. Stories are no exception.
Today, I’d like to discuss a medium in which sharing stories is more natural than others. If you’ve seen the title of this post, you can probably guess the medium I’m talking about.
Film is the best way to share a story in the moment of the experience.
Books can be read aloud with another person. Someone can sit on the couch with you while you play a videogame.
Still, books are all about turning words into a world within your mind. You can’t perfectly communicate that personal vision to someone without developing a talent for telepathy.
Videogame stories are mostly told through player experience. Every player’s different, so even if you’re playing the same game with someone, your personal experiences within the story are entirely different.
Film, including both movies and series, is different. It is what it is. The world on the screen is the same for everyone.
Don’t get me wrong.
Sure, many movies are based on making you think about the world beyond the scenes you see. There’s also room for different visions on what happens after the picture ends.
True, no two experiences will ever be exactly alike. Everyone brings different things to a story and takes back different things with them.
However, film is far more definitive in the vision it presents in itself. There is far less room for divergent experiences in film compared to other mediums.
Books can get by without describing every aspect of a character’s appearance.
In film, the whole appearance is generally there before you in full. Obscuring too much in shadows or camera angles could prove annoying if done without good reason.
Games can give you blank-slate characters that become vehicles of your own choices in the story’s world.
In film, you watch defined characters make choices of their own. Film characters not being well-defined is usually considered a great flaw.
Stories told in film can better be shared as they are experienced because they are more definitive experiences by their very nature.
The Obvious Example: Movie Theaters, Enough Said
I suppose this is the rare post where my first real example could be enough to prove my point.
Our culture’s major way to catch new movies is going to massive theaters and sitting in a room filled with strangers for a few hours in another world.
We don’t often think about it, but these people are our fellow travelers. They follow us into the story being told on the giant screen in front of us.
Most surprising thing is how quickly a good sense of community can form in a movie theater.
I know there’s some people who laugh too loud or talk on the phone, but these have been rare situations in my experience.
What I’ve seen far more is the strangers in a movie theater come together and build unspoken rules.
During superhero movies, we may permit a few moments to whisper and explain a comic reference to a loved one.
I mean, as exciting as Endgame was, I will never forget my theater’s reaction, during the first Avengers, when Hulk threw around Loki like a ragdoll. Hooting and hollering doesn’t begin to describe it.
We know which actions scenes we’re able to cheer at. We become comfortable regarding which tragic death scenes we’re able to tear up at.
My dad noted how he flanked by tear-bladders when we went to see My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising recently. Both the guy next to him and myself were shedding rivers. I don’t think MHA’s main character Izuku Midoriya himself could fill so many oceans.
(Don’t get me wrong There’s good reason for it, but he had to move past a lot of tears to be a smiling hero.)
Honestly, I don’t think I’d ever want to go see a movie in theaters alone. So much of the experience to me is tied in enjoying it with others, I would always want someone going with me.
That way, even if the theaters empty, I’ve still got someone to experience the story with.
A More Personal Example: Get Yourself a Family Room!
Let’s take this post home and discover the most common way stories are shared now. That’s right. We’re talking about social benefits of being couch potatoes together.
Believe it or not, this section is actually why I wanted to right this post. The original title was even “Having a Family Show.” In fact, I don’t think I’ve changed the file name yet on my computer.
Many of the shows I most remember enjoying over the years are the shows I saw with my family.
I’ve introduced shows to my parents. My parents have introduced shows to me. We’ve given and followed recommendations to and from the people all around us.
Sometimes, this happened in ways you’d never expect.
Take Avatar: The Last Airbender for example. Classic cartoon, one of the all-time greats. This is a story of growth and maturity in a rich world both well-defined and filled with possibilities.
As a kid, I turned off the TV every time the show came on.
I saw the main character Aang and wrote him off. He was a weird dopey kid with a blue arrow painted across his face. He looked dumb to me.
Of course, Nickolodeon’s commercials for the show didn’t help matters much. They focused on all the jokes instead of the human characters. Bad puns instead of the power to bend the elements of nature to your will.
After the show’s first season, my dad caught some reruns while channel surging one night. He’d heard me mocking the show’s goofy marketing a few times and wanted to see how bad it was.
Imagine my surprise when he comes to me the next morning praising the show as a masterpiece.
Next thing I know, my dad and I pick up the show. We watch a few episodes here and there. Soon enough, we see the first few episodes, better understand the plot, and get hooked entirely.
Turns out Aang wasn’t just a dopey kid. He was the last of the ancient Air Benders and the current incarnation of the Avatar, a hero who could bend all the natural elements. He was trying to save the world from a century of war started by the insidious Fire Nation.
Next thing you know, we were buying DVDs and videogames and getting hyped for the series’ eventual sequel series The Legend of Korra.
My family had a similar experience, this time including my mom, with the show How I Met Your Mother. We started late on that one too, so season DVDs became an annual Christmas gift.
Every year, we’d spend the back half of Christmas Break gathered in the family room, watching hours and hours of those DVDs all at once.
My strongest memories from that show don’t even come from the brilliant jokes or snappy insight. They come from my parents’ reactions to them.
Seriously, you should’ve seen my parents falling out of their chairs when playboy Barney and group Canadian Robin had a competition for touching the most museum items.
These watching habits haven’t even died down as the years have gone on, though the shows themselves have changed.
My dad and I watch the latest English dubs of My Hero Academia every Sunday morning. Almost every gift-giving holiday, now guarantees him some sort of MHA DVD or collectible.
My mom and I laugh over the absurdity that is Riverdale. She grew up on the Archie comics, and it’s always fun to see how the writers are mangling the characters each week.
Recently, all three of us have gotten into Fox’s new procedural Prodigal Son. I don’t think I’ve had this much fun with this type of show since Castle ended.
And you know what? As life moves on and more responsibilities are accepted, I find myself watching less things on my own.
Don’t get me wrong. I keep up on a few things, but I’m not on top of it unless I watch it with someone else. Like the movie theatre, watching a show means so much more to me when watching it with someone else.
Honestly, having to watch alone almost keeps a show from being worthwhile to me.
Discussion Time!
I hope I’ve proved my point to you. Film is the best way to share a story as you’re experiencing it.
Don’t get me wrong. Books are still my forte, and I still to love to write them above all. However, watching something with others gives me some of the greatest joy and memories of stories.
So, what movies or shows have you enjoyed watching with others? Do you think your viewing experiences tend to prove my points listed here?
Kotcher’s Call to Action
If you like my content and wish to see more, you could check out my books Five Strange Stories and Good Stuff: 50 Poems from Youth on Amazon. They are enrolled in the Kindle Matchbook program, so anyone who buys the paperbacks can also get the eBooks for free.
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